Rapper Riyadh Roberts, aka YoungstaCPT, has been rapped over the knuckles after he filmed a video in front of a Cape Town mosque without permission.
The award-winning artist dropped a snippet of his latest track, titled ‘Alhamdulillah’ (praise be to God), on Friday, which was shot in front of the Habibia Soofie Masjid in Rylands.
The 51-second video was posted on TikTok and Facebook and was captioned, “They say I put the gham in Alghamdulillah”.
Youngsta, 31, is dressed in colourful Muslim attire and glasses while he spits some bars.
“Alhamdulillah all praises due till it’s done and its kla [done],” he raps in the clip.
@waseefdkarizma #stitch with @YoungstaCpt #SAMA28 #viral #tiktokviral #tiktoktrending #foryou #fyp #fypシ゚viral #fypシ #trend #stitch #funny #youngsta #rap #colab #youngstacpt @YoungstaCpt @Youngstacpt_kaapstad ♬ original sound - kARiZmA
After the video went viral on social media, the Board of Trustees of Habibia Soofie Masjid threatened legal action against the musician to have the clip removed from social media and to prevent the full music video from being released.
Trustee Muhammed Thaabit Kagee told the Daily Voice that they have received several complaints from the community regarding the music video.
“Whatever this guy did, it is his video. I don’t have a problem with that but he needs to seek the necessary permission.
“We have got a lot of responses from the community saying what right did this guy have or what right did we have to grant him permission to shoot such a video,” he explained.
“The act of posing as an imam [man of God] and rapping in front of a masjid [mosque], and at the same time distorting the praise of Allah, undermines this sanctity and is a direct insult to the House of Allah and to this religion of Islam.”
The music video has since been removed from YoungstaCPT’s official Facebook page.
When the Daily Voice reached out to Youngsta’s manager, he didn’t respond to phone calls, emails or WhatsApp messages.
Daily Voice